(Paolo will make a most auspicious beginning to the things of which we shall sing here. In the meantime I would like you to write whether he is well or sighs for the affections of Alessio, to whom he is more dear than I would wish. Remind him to keep us in his thoughts and to make use of his tutor Alessio in such a way that he understands that we love him.)

See Perosa 1973, rpt. 2000, n. 18 (pp. 171-72) for mention of an "Alexis" in an epigram of Filippo Buonaccorsi, known as "Callimaco," and of an epigram (perhaps) of Calderini. The "Alexius Romanus" cited in the dedicatory letter of Niccolò Perotti's commentary on the Silvae of Statius (1472) and another mentioned in a collection of writings for Alessandro Cinuzzi (1477) probably refer to other persons, not to Alessio Stati.

Other members of the family must also have had connections with Pomponio and his circle. An important testimony of these relations is the copy of Pomponio's edition of Sallust's opera (Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1490) now in the Royal Library of Copenhagen (Inc. 3587), which contains the Stati coat of arms (f. 2v) and an illuminated initial on the incipit page (f. 3r) depicting the helmeted head of a Roman commander, modeled on an antique coin portrait of Julius Caesar.

Similar arms, though with different tinctures, are found in the incipit initial of a copy of Cicero's De oratore [Subiaco: Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, before 30 Sept. 1465] (ISTC: ic00654000) now at the Biblioteca Angelica (Rome), Inc. 505. We thank Martin Davies for kindly bringing this to our attention.
Bibl. Miglio and Rossini 1997, 98, Fig. 63.

The Stati family

The Stati, or Stati Tomarozzi, belonged to the municipal aristocracy of Rome, and various members are listed as Conservatori di Roma, including Paolo Stati (1398), Lello di Paolo (1413), and Cristoforo di Paolo (1536 and 1548). The latter also served as Maestro delle Strade in 1545, and is mentioned among the gentilhuomini romani listed in Marcantonio Altieri's Li Nuptiali, book 3. The family owned considerable property in the rione S. Eustachio and several members of the family were buried in the Church of S. Eustachio, popularly known at the time as 'Santo Stati'.l. Estense, gamma. B.6.25, Camp. App. 222, ff. IIIr-Vv)

About 1520 Cristoforo Stati (c.1498-c.1550), son of Gaspare, began the building of a new family palazzo in Platea Doganae (Piazza S. Eustachio), probably thanks to the large dowry of his wife Faustina, daughter of Virgilio Cenci, whom he married in that year. The design of the palazzo is attributed to Giulio Romano and was probably built in the years 1520/21-1524, before the architect left Rome for Mantova. The Stati coat of arms is carved on the ceiling of the Sala di Eros (piano nobile). Fresco cycles, attributed to Perino del Vega and/or his collaborators, in particular Prospero Fontana and Luzio Romano, decorate this and other rooms: Il fregio degli amorosi diletti degli dèi, inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses and Fasti; scenes depicting episodes in ancient history and, perhaps, in the life of Julius Caesar; and grottesche. In 1561 Cesare Stati, son of Cristoforo, sold the palazzo to Monsignor Cristoforo Cenci. According to a late seventeenth-century guidebook to the city (Roma sacra antica e moderna, Rome, 1687), Palazzo Cenci, as it was known by that time, numbered among the most celebrated palaces in the rione S. Eustachio for its statues, paintings, and antiquities. Later it passed into the hands of the Maccarani and di Brazzà families. Since 1972 it has been the property of the Italian state and currently houses offices of the Senate.